Norwin Menendez person
also: Menendez, Norwin Menendez, Norwin, Herrera Menendez, Herrera-Menezes, Uncle Norwin, the drug kingpin's nephew, drug kingpin, drug lord, Norwin's, Danielo Blanton, Blanton, Daniello, Norman Menendez, Norwin Menez, Cocaine King Penn, El Padrino, parakeet, Brother Norwin, Norwell Menendez, the godfather, Norwood, Don Barrios, Donella Blanton's friend, Herrero Menendez, Menendez Costasero, Nor when Menendez
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Related entities (most co-mentioned)
Daniel Blantonperson · 60Contrasorganization · 56Costa Ricacountry · 48Nicaraguacountry · 45San Franciscocountry · 42Los Angelesplace · 37CIAintelligence service · 36United Statescountry · 26Colombiacountry · 24Miamiplace · 17Anastasio Somozaperson · 15Managuaplace · 15U.S. Department of Justiceorganization · 15Nicaraguan National Policeorganization · 14Danilo Blandonperson · 12Sandinistasorganization · 12Ron Listerperson · 11Hondurascountry · 11Eden Pastoraperson · 10Roberto Libertoperson · 9Enrique Miranda Jamieperson · 9Enrique Bermudezperson · 9FDNorganization · 9Horacio Perinaperson · 9
Claims (104)
Norwin Menendez funded
FDN documented
“nephew had told him that the US was aware of these dealings and that it was highly unlikely I would even get in trouble. Both Norwin Menendez and Blanton told him that they were raising money for the Contras through drug dealing. Blanton ha…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 1:06:46
Gordon Gibler spied_on
Norwin Menendez book_quoted
“In San Francisco, FBI agent Gordon Gibler read the cable and was surprised that the DEA had not shared that information with the FBI. A few days later, the San Francisco FBI issued arrest warrants for Roberto and Menendez, you know, now tha…”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 20 @ 22:06
Joe Rosanello pardoned
Norwin Menendez book_quoted
“It didn't take a week for Rosanello's office to reject the FBI agent's proposal. Menendez would not be prosecuted. The agents were told so long as Blanton's investigation is still underway in Los Angeles, that wasn't going to happen. Rosane…”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 20 @ 25:02
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Daniel Blanton book_quoted
“penetrate Blanton's organization and gather intelligence about its activities under a code name Operation Perico. Now, Menendez set Blanton up in business. They're not investigating Blanton. That's all bullshit. They already know everything…”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 20 @ 15:20
Roger Sandino Martinez member_of
Norwin Menendez documented
“And I wasn't necessarily going to leave it. In other words, despite the fact that the LAPD, L.A. Sheriff's Department, FBI, DEA, CIA, DIA, and IRS was now fully aware of Blanton's cocaine reign, the only thing that changed was the man at th…”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 20 @ 46:35
Norwin Menendez owned
Alpha 2 Rent-A-Car documented
“Though he had successfully navigated the waters of the cocaine industry for nearly a decade, Blanton learned that he was unprepared for operating a normal business. His 24-location rent-a-car business, Alpha 2, suffered when a deal to rent …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 19:15
Herberto Cardona supplied_arms_to
Norwin Menendez documented
“He continued to deal with his Colombian drug dealers under the guise of a rental car. He felt particularly close to Colombian Herberto Cardona because Cardona was supplying Danielle's Nicaraguan associates in South Central with cocaine. Thi…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 20:42
Norwin Menendez did_business_with
José González documented
“started doing business with Jose Gonzalez in San Francisco, which was Menendez's contact there. He also said that, let's see, this is a quote, but I never, at that time, I never come to deal with them because Norwin didn't let me keep in to…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 24:17
Norwin Menendez met_with
Adolfo Calero documented
“During that period, he was having meetings with CIA agent Adolfo Calera, who was part of the Contra meetings that were happening back then with the FDN. He was also driving FDN officials around Los Angeles and holding FDN functions at the T…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 26:13
Norwin Menendez recruited
Enrique Miranda Jamie documented
“Even though the Sandinistas were no longer running the government, they still controlled the country's military and national police. If they caught him dealing cocaine, he would be at the mercy of his old enemies. To cover his bets, Norwin …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 34:03
Norwin Menendez recruited
Enrique Miranda Jamie host_asserted
“And he confirmed that Miranda was the person who was sending guns to the El Salvadoran death squads. He also confirmed that Miranda sold himself to the CIA and provided the agency with intelligence on Sandinista leaders. The CIA refused to …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 36:51
Enrique Miranda Jamie trafficked
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“to serve as his emissary to the Colombians, primarily the cartel of Bogota. Posing as Norwin's nephew, Miranda said he arranged drug shipments, plotted the routes, and handed the cash deliveries back and forth. While Menendez negotiated pri…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 37:20
Norwin Menendez financed_via
Enrique Miranda Jamie host_asserted
“to serve as his emissary to the Colombians, primarily the cartel of Bogota. Posing as Norwin's nephew, Miranda said he arranged drug shipments, plotted the routes, and handed the cash deliveries back and forth. While Menendez negotiated pri…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 37:20
Luis Enrique Menendez trafficked
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“arranged for the cocaine transportation from Nicaragua to the United States. Most of the cocaine they were shipping, Miranda said, was being sold in Los Angeles through Menendez's brother, Luis Enrique, who was later convicted in Nicaragua …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 37:49
Daniel Blanton trafficked
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“Herrera was arrested and sent to jail. Jose Gonzalez moved back to Nicaragua, and the only experienced distributor left was Daniel Blanton. He took the job of doling out the cocaine to the other members of the Menendez's ring throughout the…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 41:02
Roger Sardino trafficked
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“Blanton also mentioned that he was due to receive a million-dollar settlement from the U.S. government for some unspecified claim. Armand steered the conversation to Roger Sardino, the Menendez associate wanted by the DEA in conjunction wit…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 50:06
Roger Mayorga spied_on
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“The chief of the Nicaraguan National Police said Commander Roger Mayorga, the head of the criminal investigation section, were well acquainted with Norwin and his family and the work that he had done for Somoza and the Contras. Mayorga, a s…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:01:24
Marcos Aguardo supplied_arms_to
Norwin Menendez documented
“The auto transport trailer Menendez's men were busy stuffing cocaine into had just been purchased for $125,000 in El Salvador from none other than former CIA pilot Marcos Aguardo. Aguardo, who had helped run the secret Contra airbase at Ilo…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:12:02
Jonathan Marshall exposed
Norwin Menendez documented
“Two prominent Nicaraguan politicians were seemingly implicated as well, although they were never charged. The story made several U.S. newspapers, and reporter Jonathan Marshall of the San Francisco Chronicle, who had just co-authored a book…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:12:58
Norwin Menendez indicted_by
San Francisco documented
“had been sworn in as president, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco brought a secret indictment against Menendez, finally charging him with a few of the crimes he had committed back in the 80s. The two-count indictment accused him o…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 25:47
Norwin Menendez trafficked
United States host_asserted
“I had friends in Central America who were killed. There was a Mexican reporter who was looking into one end of this and he wound up dead. So don't pretend that you know. If the Contras were selling drugs in L.A., don't you think people shou…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance by Gary Webb Part 1 @ 1:03:32
Norwin Menendez funded
Contras book_quoted
“Nicaraguan population that was currently in Costa Rica. A 1985 report stated he was one of the first economic supports for the Contras in Costa Rica. There are rumors that he works as an informant for DEA. It was more than a rumor. It was t…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 11 @ 41:31
Norwin Menendez spied_on
Daniel Blanton book_quoted
“The DEA agent, Gonzalez, told the Justice Department that, quote, planned to use Menendez only to introduce other informants into Bland's organization, unquote, reportedly because he thought Menendez would be difficult to control. But now, …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 11 @ 1:01:01
Norwin Menendez member_of
Democratic Force of Nicaragua documented
“with Blanton to deliver 100 kilos of cocaine to a major supplier of the L.A. Rock houses in exchange for almost $3 million. And these weren't your everyday run-of-the-mill drug dealers, the informant warned Auckland. They had connections. B…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 17 @ 9:23
Norwin Menendez laundered_money_for
Contras documented
“Bound for the U.S., approximately 10 to 20 kilos per month was imported in this manner. Now you know why they have used car dealerships. Herrero Menendez said that Menendez was working with the Honduran government and that the police agency…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 5 @ 15:55
Norwin Menendez supplied_arms_to
Democratic Force of Nicaragua host_asserted
“And Norwin Menendez explained that when he was having to deliver weapons and supplies to the FDN, I dealt directly with Bermudez and occasionally his assistant, Sanchez. He was a good friend of mine, he said. By November of 81, the Contra p…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 5 @ 28:39
Norwin Menendez financed_via
Contras host_asserted
“Between 81 and 82, he said that he had provided several thousand dollars in drug profits to finance the FDN's wing in Los Angeles. The drug money was used to support the operating expenses, plane tickets, rent, office spaces. Menendez was d…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 5 @ 39:25
CIA covered_up
Norwin Menendez documented
“The involvement of Pereira and the Sanchez brothers was never disclosed, nor were they ever charged with anything. For some reason, the fact that the former Nicaraguan ambassador to Guatemala was bringing cocaine into the United States was …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 6 @ 27:52
Rinaldo Pina spied_on
Norwin Menendez documented
“as neither Norwin Menendez nor any of the family was charged. Former Menendez aide, Rinaldo Pina, told the Justice Department in 1997 that Norwin had a DEA agent on his payroll, and he had called Norwin a few weeks before the raid.…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 6 @ 26:30
Horacio Perina trafficked
Norwin Menendez documented
“Karina Lanunez. He was referred to as La Barra, the Menendez lieutenant who had been supplying cocaine to Caprese and Zavala in San Francisco and funneling the profits to the Contra Army under the command of Chavarro. In August or September…”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 12 @ 7:15
CIA spied_on
Norwin Menendez documented
“The CIA knows a lot of these crooks. I mean, the CIA knows. As it turned out, Swenson was right. A 1998 CIA inspector general report confirmed that as early as 1984, the agency had information tying Menendez to a drug and arms network in Co…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 10 @ 16:02
Norwin Menendez financed_via
Ron Lister documented
“Lister, quote, led a sales team on a futile mission to Civil War-wracked El Salvador in the summer of 1982 to market surplus American arms, military equipment, and use school buses to the Salvadoran military. The trip was financed, the asso…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 8 @ 24:32
Danilo Blandon member_of
Norwin Menendez documented
“intelligence files, computerized profiles maintained by the federal government on suspected drug traffickers. It showed both men as current associates. It also said that if Blanton had double-crossed Menendez in 82 or 83 by stealing his sou…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 25:38
Norwin Menendez supplied_arms_to
FDN documented
“He told the DEA intelligence analyst that Menendez was indeed working for the FDN and had been using drug money to buy weapons for the Contra. He also vouched for Renata Pena's credibility. Renata Pena worked for the nephew Menendez and ran…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 1:08:03
Enrique Bermudez recruited
Norwin Menendez book_quoted
“that the CIA knows about all of these things. The money the Contra received from the Reagan administration was peanuts and was growing military organization needed arms, supplies, food, and money to support the families. And the CIA decided…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 1:08:52
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Contras book_quoted
“that the FBI's file on Menendez was two feet thick. I thought this bastard should have been arrested. I assumed there would have been an outstanding warrant on this guy. I was amazed. There wasn't a single outstanding warrant on Menendez an…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 1:12:33
Norwin Menendez trafficked
United States book_quoted
“Gonzalez from San Jose, Costa Rica, told of the results of a debriefing of a confidential informant. Ainsworth's heart sank as he read it. The informant related that Menendez Costasero, Edmundo's younger brother, was presently residing in S…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 1:10:15
U.S. Customs Service covered_up
Norwin Menendez book_quoted
“The FBI report went on to say that the customs agent told Ainsworth that Menendez would have been arrested in a major drug case in 1983, except that he had been warned that he was given a warning by a redacted officer not to arrest him. Oth…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 1:12:04
Department of Defense spied_on
Norwin Menendez documented
“Both the State Department and the Department of Defense, the CIA report revealed, were monitoring Menendez's movements at the time. Those reports included reference to a trip to Colombia by Menendez and Miranda in September 91 and to the gr…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:21:23
Norwin Menendez moved_to
San Diego documented
“And the Colombian had a novel idea. Why not get back into the cocaine business? It was hotter than ever. Why? He just sold Blanton's friend in LA a ton of cocaine, literally 2,000 kilos. So if you want to go back, I can get some merchandise…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 22:43
CIA covered_up
Norwin Menendez documented
“When the information about Renato Pena's involvement in the upcoming Costa Rican meeting was relayed back to Langley, CIA headquarters immediately ordered the Domestic Collections Division to halt any further investigation, allegedly becaus…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 1:03:13
Norwin Menendez member_of
Forces Democráticas Nacionales book_quoted
“The same guy, Joe Rosanello, that did absolutely nothing with the Frogman case that we talked about a while back, and presented him with a list of reasons why Menendez needed to be indicted. Their prosecution memo detailed a long history of…”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 20 @ 24:31
U.S. State Department spied_on
Norwin Menendez documented
“Both the State Department and the Department of Defense, the CIA report revealed, were monitoring Menendez's movements at the time. Those reports included reference to a trip to Colombia by Menendez and Miranda in September 91 and to the gr…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:21:23
Enrique Miranda Jamie ordered_assassination_of
Norwin Menendez book_quoted
“having been moved to a prison in the city of Granada after Menendez hired someone to kill him. He had already had put in a request at the Nicaraguan Ministry of Interior to arrange an interview, George said. I think we can speak to both of …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 23 @ 24:58
Gary Webb exposed
Norwin Menendez book_quoted
“Menendez or confirm or refute these claims. Headquarters trace Menendez reveal extensive entries, unquote. These extensive entries were not revealed in the declassified version of the CIA's IG report because they were damning. The DEA's pub…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 23 @ 22:03
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Contras documented
“$60,000, he scoffed. You can raise that in an afternoon. According to another unnamed source, the Times quoted, Blanton and Menendez were making only $15,000 a kilo. Unmentioned was Blanton's testimony that he had sold 200 to 300 kilos for …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 24 @ 52:46
CIA covered_up
Norwin Menendez documented
“flexible when necessary. A month later, with the Washington press corps on a scavenger hunt for a dressed stain with President Clinton's semen, the classified version of the CIA report was officially released. It showed that the CIA had kno…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 25 (Final) @ 3:37
CIA recruited
Norwin Menendez documented
“The entire time this was going on, that Blanton and Menendez had began selling cocaine in L.A. for the Contras, the CIA and Justice Department had an agreement to not address it. In essence, the CIA wouldn't tell the Justice Department and …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 25 (Final) @ 6:24
Daniel Blanton recruited
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“told Blanton that someone wanted to meet him, a man that would be flying into L.A. His name was Norwin Menendez. Blanton was to meet him at the airport and listen to everything that he says. He had to talk to me about something, Blanton sai…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 2:07
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Cali Cartel documented
“The CIA, in a recent declassified 1986 cable, described Menendez as the kingpin of narcotic traffickers in Nicaragua prior to the fall of Somoza. The agency would later describe him as the Cali cartel's representative in Nicaragua. And they…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 8:54
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Daniel Blanton host_asserted
“Menendez at the airport, Blanton said, he started telling me that we had to do some money, that we had to do some money, and to send it to Honduras. Because remember, they moved it from Guatemala to the Contra camp to Honduras. Later at a r…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 7:57
Norwin Menendez member_of
Valito Barrios del Chamorro host_asserted
“who in 1987 was murdered and it sparked an uprising that eventually toppled Somoza. Norwin Menendez, record show, was a partner of Valletta Chamorro in a finance company before the revolution. So, and the guy that's like going to weddings w…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 4:31
Norwin Menendez ordered_assassination_of
Oscar Reyes Zelaya documented
“who was a high-ranking customs official under Somoza. Norwin then arranged for Reyes' assassination. After the publicity died down, Norwin calmly resumed his smuggling ventures, but the FBI kept an eye on him. As Somoza's government teetere…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 24:49
Norwin Menendez spied_on
Sandinistas host_asserted
“Acquaintances of his said that he was an undercover informant for basically their FBI. Samosa's plainclothes secret police, which rooted out subversives or anyone that they thought was Sandinista or Sandinista affiliates. Before going to Gu…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 19:00
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Nicaraguan National Police documented
“just as the dying inspector had claimed. In 1986, federal prosecutors in San Francisco debriefed Edmundo Menendez's son, Herrero, who informed them that during the Somoza regime, Norwin Menendez smuggled weapons, silencers, and video equipm…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 24:17
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Contras host_asserted
“into the U.S. in 1981 alone, which would have generated $54 million in sales. Blanton accepted Menendez's pitch to become a cocaine salesman for the Contras, he said, after he and the drug kingpin took a trip down to Honduras for another pe…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 46:02
Norwin Menendez recruited
Daniel Blanton host_asserted
“into the U.S. in 1981 alone, which would have generated $54 million in sales. Blanton accepted Menendez's pitch to become a cocaine salesman for the Contras, he said, after he and the drug kingpin took a trip down to Honduras for another pe…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 46:02
Norwin Menendez trafficked
United States documented
“He was in love with Bermudez's sister, Patricia, at the time and was often in the house in West Covina. The DEA, in fact, described Norwin as the owner of the three pounds of cocaine found there when they did their bust. But the arrest of o…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 45:33
Julio Bermudez trafficked
Norwin Menendez documented
“He had bought from Norwin Menendez. They also found $17,000 in a drug ledger bearing an entry 11-11-81, $90,000 to Herrera. Bermudez was hustled off to jail and Smith got her warrant for the Menendez house. On November 16th, the police hit…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 43:12
Norwin Menendez laundered_money_for
Contras host_asserted
“There was an understanding among them. No one would join the Contra forces down there without my knowledge or approval. Blanton confirmed that, telling the CIA that Menendez's role in the Contra operations in California was basically a pers…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 47:57
Norwin Menendez supplied_arms_to
Daniel Blanton host_asserted
“And I start. Menendez gave him two kilos of cocaine worth about $60,000 at the time and the names of some of the customers in LA and told him to hit the streets. The cocaine was provided at no cost, but with the understanding that Blanton w…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 55:30
Norwin Menendez funded
Contras book_quoted
“is the next excerpt talks about Menendez allowing him just enough, and this is a repeat from what we have already heard, to pay the rent and blah, blah, blah. But among the Nicaraguan exile community, it was strongly suspected that Menendez…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 7 @ 16:28
Norwin Menendez supplied_arms_to
Contras book_quoted
“that he was present on many occasions when Menendez telephoned FDN commander Enrique Bermudez in Honduras. Menendez told Pena of Bermudez's request for such things like gun silencers, which Menendez sent to him, crossbows, and other militar…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 7 @ 13:55
Norwin Menendez recruited
Daniel Blanton book_quoted
“While Blanton struggled to create a customer base, he made himself very useful. You know, he becomes his secretary. He's now kind of his accountant in Los Angeles, keeping the books, helping the relative of Menendez run the restaurant, that…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 7 @ 2:54
Norwin Menendez member_of
JDM Artwork, Inc. book_quoted
“Someone would be assigned to watch over them the entire time. Sometimes that was Daniello Blanton's job. In August of 82, Blanton and Mrs. Menendez set up a business together in Los Angeles. It was called JDM Artwork, Inc. Now see if any of…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 7 @ 9:34
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Contras host_asserted
“had spoken of obtaining night vision goggles from Lister in 1982, which the drug lord planned to sell to the Salvadoran government. Menendez intended to use the proceeds of the night vision goggles to aid the Contras. In October 1982, Pyram…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 7 @ 45:02
Dennis Ainsworth exposed
Norwin Menendez documented
“Ainsworth warned them that the FDN, quote, has become more involved in selling arms and cocaine for personal gain than in a military effort to overthrow the current Nicaraguan Sandinista government, unquote. He told the agents about Menende…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 10 @ 2:33
Norwin Menendez trafficked
FDN documented
“His decision to plead guilty and rat out Uncle Norwin could hardly be considered a surprise. Like Pena, Herrera-Menezes was debriefed by the DEA and he too implicated the Contras in Norwin's drug sales, confirming that his uncle had direct …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 10 @ 6:07
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Daniel Blanton documented
“His decision to plead guilty and rat out Uncle Norwin could hardly be considered a surprise. Like Pena, Herrera-Menezes was debriefed by the DEA and he too implicated the Contras in Norwin's drug sales, confirming that his uncle had direct …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 10 @ 6:07
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Enrique Bermudez documented
“His decision to plead guilty and rat out Uncle Norwin could hardly be considered a surprise. Like Pena, Herrera-Menezes was debriefed by the DEA and he too implicated the Contras in Norwin's drug sales, confirming that his uncle had direct …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 10 @ 6:07
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Sebastian Gonzalez documented
“The CIA knows a lot of these crooks. I mean, the CIA knows. As it turned out, Swenson was right. A 1998 CIA inspector general report confirmed that as early as 1984, the agency had information tying Menendez to a drug and arms network in Co…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 10 @ 16:02
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Contras documented
“to the cartels of Colombia in the late 1980s, testified in 1992 that during the Nicaraguan trial, which we'll talk about later, that Norwin was selling drugs and funneling the benefits to the Contras with help from high-ranking military off…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 14 @ 46:14
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Contras documented
“The friend was questioned in April 1986 by a DEA intelligence analyst as part of a secret DEA assessment of allegations that the Contras were involved in drug smuggling. He not only confirmed that Menendez was selling cocaine to raise money…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 14 @ 53:37
Norwin Menendez recruited
U.S. Department of Justice documented
“The DEA informant related that Menendez had recruited him to coordinate drug and weapons shipments to Colombia and drugs were shipped back to the United States, sometimes through Nicaragua. Menendez boasted that he traveled in and out of Ni…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 14 @ 54:03
Norwin Menendez member_of
Medellin Cartel host_asserted
“who were close relatives of the Medellin cartel boss, Pablo Escobar. In his 1996 interview, Norwin Menendez confirmed the relationship between the women and Escobar. Guzeta said Torreses were informed that no charges would be filed against …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 15 @ 28:28
Seth Rosenfeld exposed
Norwin Menendez documented
“had another major front page story in the Examiner, exposing Norwin Menendez's cocaine trafficking network and his involvement with the Contras in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Rosenfeld reported on Menendez's meeting with CIA agents Enriq…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 16 @ 43:45
Norwin Menendez member_of
Fuerza Democrática Nacional documented
“had another major front page story in the Examiner, exposing Norwin Menendez's cocaine trafficking network and his involvement with the Contras in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Rosenfeld reported on Menendez's meeting with CIA agents Enriq…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 16 @ 43:45
Norwin Menendez funded
Fuerza Democrática Nacional documented
“He reported that the Contra spokesperson in San Francisco had been convicted of cocaine charges. He disclosed Menendez's donations and Contra fundraisers. The Menendez's story was considerably more damaging to the Contras than the Frogman s…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 16 @ 44:14
Jack Blum covered_up
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“He asked the Justice Department to turn over its files on Menendez and the long-closed Brogman case. He ran into a buzzsaw. He said, quote, we had a terrible, terrible time getting information about Menendez from the fellow who was the U.S.…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 16 @ 45:37
Joseph Rosonello covered_up
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“He asked the Justice Department to turn over its files on Menendez and the long-closed Brogman case. He ran into a buzzsaw. He said, quote, we had a terrible, terrible time getting information about Menendez from the fellow who was the U.S.…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 16 @ 45:37
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Nicaragua documented
“well known as the Nicaraguan Mafia, dealing in drugs, weapons, smuggling, and laundering of counterfeit money. That's what the CIA cabled back. What happened next is still in dispute. After the raids, Sergeant Gordon and Deputy Juarez said …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 18 @ 50:08
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Contras host_asserted
“I also obtained the 1987 FBI interview with the San Francisco Contra supporter Dennis Ainsworth. We've come across his name a couple of times, in which he told of his discovery that Norwin Menendez and a Contra leader by the name of Enrique…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance by Gary Webb Part 1 @ 1:02:35
Orlando Morello laundered_money_for
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“Morella, now remember he was like the chief banker for Somoza, the CIA-installed and controlled dictator in Nicaragua before the Sandinistas arrived. Morella was identified as working at the government security bank in Coral Gables and acti…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 17 @ 5:03
Daniel Blanton trafficked
Norwin Menendez guest_asserted
“Blanton insists that he didn't actually sell his first ounce of cocaine until 1982. But others who knew him at the time said he had been dealing in drugs much, much earlier than that. The Torres brothers would later tell the FBI that Blanto…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 55:57
Norwin Menendez recruited
Enrique Bermudez guest_asserted
“Miranda also testified that I also took part in meetings with Norwin Menendez and Bermudez, discussed the possibility of using the army to send drug loads to the U.S. and Europe. But those plans were truncated by Bermudez's sudden death. An…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:24:06
Norwin Menendez paid
Enrique Miranda Jamie documented
“Miranda was given a seven-year sentence. A few days after the trial, Nicaraguan prison authorities reported that Menendez had paid a deranged inmate $10,000 to knife Miranda in revenge for his damning testimony. Menendez denied it, but Mira…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:27:08
Norwin Menendez member_of
Brigade 2506 guest_asserted
“was plugged tightly into the Cuban exile community in Miami. He assisted the Cuban Legion in their radio propaganda shows coming from Miami, Terrell said, adding that Menendez was an associate of several members of the 2506 Brigade that mad…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 49:49
Norwin Menendez funded
Contras host_asserted
“Asked when Blanton stopped giving money to the Contras, Menendez replied, never as far as I know. Blanton said that he was working for Menendez at the time the Contras cocaine kickbacks ended. I continued to work for a period of time, about…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 21:50
Norwin Menendez funded
Cuban Legion guest_asserted
“was plugged tightly into the Cuban exile community in Miami. He assisted the Cuban Legion in their radio propaganda shows coming from Miami, Terrell said, adding that Menendez was an associate of several members of the 2506 Brigade that mad…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 49:49
Norwin Menendez member_of
FDN guest_asserted
“The slang was never solved. Menendez, of course, denied everything. The cocaine wasn't his. It belonged to a drug-dealing Sandinista guy. He claimed the Sandinistas had set him up and his brother on phony drug charges as revenge for their y…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:24:36
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Contras documented
“And again, my tipster's description proved accurate, perhaps even understated. I found a 1991 story from the San Francisco Chronicle and a 1986 San Francisco Examiner piece that strongly suggested Menendez, too, had been dealing in cocaine …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance by Gary Webb Part 1 @ 52:53
Norwin Menendez trafficked
Sebastian Gonzalez documented
“this Sebastian Gonzalez Mendetta in Costa Rica. It was reported that Menendez owned a restaurant, because they all do, in which Gonzalez might have had a financial interest. According to the cable, Menendez, Gonzalez, and Munkle were all we…”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 12 @ 12:12
Norwin Menendez funded
United Support Against Communism in the Americas guest_asserted
“a Nicaraguan who had been a local coordinator for the FDN. The men chatted briefly, exchanged phone numbers, and according to at least one source, the entire meeting was paid for by Menendez. About three weeks later, Ainsworth said Benalla …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 39:56
CIA covered_up
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“Menendez raised funds in the Bay Area and it would be Blanton's job to do the same in the southern part of the state. Menendez became Bermudez's intelligence and security advisor in California. So he's basically working for the CIA, running…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 47:24
Roberto Chamorro funded
Norwin Menendez host_asserted
“Cesar and Chamorro quickly joined forces with his remaining army at the behest of the CIA. Pastor's claim of a CIA plot becomes even more believable when one considers who the agency selected to replace him. Chamorro, his arch enemy, who ha…”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 12 @ 43:23
Norwin Menendez funded
Don Sinoccio guest_asserted
“Success number six was we are receiving some attention from the Cuban people that appear eager to help. Success number seven was Mr. Menendez contribution. Menendez had dropped off a contribution on the little group at their first meeting a…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 9 @ 50:48
Richard Secord trafficked
Norwin Menendez book_quoted
“That Menendez and Gonzalez were dealing cocaine together had been known to the CIA since late 1984. One of the men closely involved in the Contra operation around that time was none other than retired Air Force General Richard Secord. That …”
▶ The Colonel Corner Dark Alliance Part 12 @ 47:21
Norwin Menendez laundered_money_for
CIA host_asserted
“So I'm wondering whether or not these folks are involved in some given point, too. Well, you know, what's funny is just a little bit. I mean, obviously, we've done a lot of research, but within the first six months, we figured out how they …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 11 @ 1:06:35
Norwin Menendez supplied_arms_to
Contras host_asserted
“Bermudez asked him and Menendez if they could assist in the procurement of weapons. In court testimony, Blanton called it a mission that they took them to Costa Rica to contact some people to get some connections on how to do it. We have to…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 4 @ 52:07
Norwin Menendez trafficked
CIA host_asserted
“No, because they all knew and they were using his drug network to make money, just like we use the mafia to run the drugs and make money in the Golden Triangle. It's just a replication of the system that they've set up every single time. On…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 11 @ 1:07:59
Norwin Menendez recruited
Bernardo Arce Castano guest_asserted
“The first person Menendez had approached was a commandant in the military, a guy by the name of Bernardo Arce Castano, a cousin of Menendez's wife and one of the most influential of the nine Sandinista leaders left. According to Menendez, A…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 22 @ 1:19:36
Norwin Menendez spied_on
Enrique Amarino book_quoted
“because he was working with the entire government to include the CIA. In an interview, Menendez said that he had helped DEA gather intelligence on the February 1985 torture murder of DEA agent Enrique Amarino in Mexico.…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 11 @ 43:56
Norwin Menendez supplied_arms_to
Contras book_quoted
“for a variety of police agencies. In May of 1992, the FBI, DEA, IRS, and the Los Angeles Police Department sat the Torreses down in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles and grilled them about Menendez and Danielle O'Blanton. Menendez w…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 11 @ 35:28
Norwin Menendez member_of
National Guard (El Salvador) host_asserted
“outside of Managua for five years, but he had none of the fluorescent tube look of someone who had spent all that time in prison. He was tanned. He was well-rested. According to, let's see, one of the prisons that had, it was a prison that …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 11 @ 30:35
Mentions (120)
▶ 2:30
plus firsthand human intelligence on Norwin Menendez, the Americans proved surprisingly inept at catching the drug dealers. Despite obvious and widespread trafficking throughout the entire area, the subcommittee was unable to find a single,…
▶ 4:51
Lawn replied, no, sir, I am not. The DEA's position, said Lawn, and his aide, David Westrick, was that there was no credible evidence to support the allegations. The DEA officer in Costa Rica who was questioned by the carry committee, Rober…
▶ 5:20
throughout the entire time of the 1980s. Menendez's appearance in Costa Rica also coincided with the time when his drug network was rendered leaderless, accidentally disrupted by a Costa Rican police investigation. In May of 1984,…
▶ 6:14
One former Costa Rican contra official, Leonardo Zeledon Rodriguez, told UPI in 1986 that Sanchez was caught in Costa Rica with pillows full of cocaine. Trujillo is a brother-in-law of Adolfo Calero. Both Sanchez and his wife was arrested o…
▶ 7:15
Karina Lanunez. He was referred to as La Barra, the Menendez lieutenant who had been supplying cocaine to Caprese and Zavala in San Francisco and funneling the profits to the Contra Army under the command of Chavarro. In August or September…
▶ 7:44
had approached Chamorro and asked the Contra leader to help move drugs into the U.S. Neither Chamorro nor the CIA's response to Menendez's overture was disclosed. Through Pereira's drug trafficking activities, although his drug activities h…
▶ 11:40
to the Contras. According to a 1998 CIA report, Norwin Menendez was known to be involved in drug trafficking activities of Gonzalez. In a 1984 cable from the Costa Rican CIA station to Langley, Menendez said there was another trafficker, Tu…
▶ 12:12
this Sebastian Gonzalez Mendetta in Costa Rica. It was reported that Menendez owned a restaurant, because they all do, in which Gonzalez might have had a financial interest. According to the cable, Menendez, Gonzalez, and Munkle were all we…
▶ 12:44
Munkle memo mentioned the CIA cable. And basically, it was assumed that the Munkle was Augusto Munkle, a Contra supporter who had been detained in Miami with Pereira for currency violations during an FBI frogman case that we talked about a …
▶ 13:13
In a 1990 interview with a journalist, Gonzalez said that Horacio Pereira had offered him money to help finance a new contra movement he started when he broke with Pastora. It was referred to as M3. Horacio Pereira earlier had loaned money …
▶ 15:05
and Torrio Sanchez might have been expected to put a crimp in the cocaine trafficking in that small nation. After all, Costa Rica's biggest dealer, Pereira, was out of business. Gonzalez was on the run, and their supplier, Norwin Menendez, …
▶ 16:49
claimed that he was a target of an elaborate CIA scheme to force him out of the war, a plot that involved the use of drug dealers working for intelligence agency. This occurred, he said, after he refused CIA orders to unite his forces with …
▶ 20:46
about what was happening and the drug dealing. Further evidence of the CIA's role can be found in the backgrounds of the men who set up the drug deals and eventually ruined Pastora. They had long-standing ties to the CIA and Menendez, somet…
▶ 21:17
Pastora's first offer of assistance came from Agavian Cesar, the former social director of Menendez VIP nightclub in Managua. The CIA now admits that he was one of its snoops. The agency officers met occasionally with Cesar, usually in the …
▶ 22:13
and ask him to contribute to Pastora's army. During our conversation, they told me that they were CIA agents. Two of them said they were Cesar and Eduardo were the CIA agents. Morales said in 1986 congressional testimony, quote, I knew that…
▶ 35:43
was moved from the El Salvador base to airfields in Costa Rica. When he quit the war in 1986, Aguardo said that he sold the aircraft for $30,000. Who bought it? Menendez. In 1997, Aguardo said the C-47 was still being used by Menendez in Ve…
▶ 37:13
in Costa Rica, where Pastora lived rent-free for several years. Blanton told the CIA that he could have charged Pastora, but he didn't. The only time Daniello came to Costa Rica was for parties and to meet with Menendez. It was around this …
▶ 43:23
Cesar and Chamorro quickly joined forces with his remaining army at the behest of the CIA. Pastor's claim of a CIA plot becomes even more believable when one considers who the agency selected to replace him. Chamorro, his arch enemy, who ha…
▶ 46:52
in 1985. Owen was one of the CIA's top informants in Costa Rica. He listed eight of Chamorro's associates as having past indiscretions. The list included the FARN's Air Force chief, Robello, who Owen described as having potential involvemen…
▶ 53:06
It was nothing compared to what happened after North and his network of spooks and mercenaries took the wheel. Again, the mercenaries we know are under the control of the CIA as well. And there was no blindness to the drug trafficking. It w…
▶ 13:09
In December of 1986, Costa Rica's biggest newspaper published an extensive series on Contra connections to drug trafficking there. And one installment focused squarely on Norwin Menendez, describing him as a Contra supporter financier who h…
▶ 13:37
drug agents. Of course, he wasn't hiding from the American drug agents. He was working with them. The story sent the DEA office at the U.S. Embassy into a tizzy. Their top secret informant had just been outed as a major Contra drug traffick…
▶ 14:00
If the Costa Rican government, which was becoming increasingly hostile to the Contras, started poking around, it wouldn't take long to discover that the drug kingpin's special relationship with the U.S. embassy would be exposed. Menendez's …
▶ 14:30
The newspaper, Gonzalez complained, had said Menendez was being investigated by the Costa Rican government and the publicity and the specter of deportation that Menendez was afraid of. He was considering going underground, Gonzalez warned, …
▶ 14:54
which is ridiculous because they already had all the information they were protecting him. On December 21st, without waiting for DEA approval, Menendez and his new partner, longtime CIA agent Roberto, left Costa Rica and flew to the U.S. Of…
▶ 15:20
penetrate Blanton's organization and gather intelligence about its activities under a code name Operation Perico. Now, Menendez set Blanton up in business. They're not investigating Blanton. That's all bullshit. They already know everything…
▶ 15:46
But it appears there were other factors behind the DEA's sudden urge to insert Menendez and the CIA agent into Blanton's organization. That was to avoid the embarrassment of Menendez falling into the hands of Costa Rican police, and more im…
▶ 16:14
if they delve too deeply into Blanton's drug ring. Again, they already know they helped set it up. Soon after the new year, a series of strange meetings took place in Los Angeles between Blanton Menendez, the CIA agent Roberto, and a top FD…
▶ 17:16
said that his brothers, Edgar and Pacito, were distributing up to 1,000 kilograms of cocaine on a monthly basis in Los Angeles. According to Torres, Menendez, and Blanton, Torres was the head of the West Coast branch of the FDN, meaning the…
▶ 21:07
Only later was Auckland told who the mystery man was. It was Norwin Menendez. And let me just tell you guys, even back then when we didn't have facial recognition, they had a flipping photograph. There's no way Norwin Menendez, the kingpin,…
▶ 21:38
that he was particularly angry that he didn't get a chance to debrief Menendez and had only last-minute notice that he could speak to the CIA agent, Roberto. The Justice Department IG reported this. Supposedly outraged, Auckland shot a cabl…
▶ 22:06
In San Francisco, FBI agent Gordon Gibler read the cable and was surprised that the DEA had not shared that information with the FBI. A few days later, the San Francisco FBI issued arrest warrants for Roberto and Menendez, you know, now tha…
▶ 22:38
that that was all after they knew they were gone. Other DEA offices also began wondering what the hell their Costa Rica comrades were up to. The San Francisco office cabled Costa Rica complaining that it had no idea who was being targeted b…
▶ 23:06
was sent to DEA headquarters in Washington, inquiring, quote, whether an indictment of Menendez by the San Francisco FBI will result in a national security problem with other agencies, unquote. In other words, mother may I. It must have cau…
▶ 23:35
He was done. He wasn't cut out to be an informant, he decided. As long as the FBI was trying to indict him, he would never go back to the U.S. and would never testify against anyone, he said. Furious that they had been duped. I don't think …
▶ 24:03
had put together enough evidence to indict Menendez for running a continuing criminal enterprise, a racketeering offense that carries possible life term. That would fix both his ass and the DEA's for good. Norwin's informant days would be o…
▶ 24:31
The same guy, Joe Rosanello, that did absolutely nothing with the Frogman case that we talked about a while back, and presented him with a list of reasons why Menendez needed to be indicted. Their prosecution memo detailed a long history of…
▶ 25:02
It didn't take a week for Rosanello's office to reject the FBI agent's proposal. Menendez would not be prosecuted. The agents were told so long as Blanton's investigation is still underway in Los Angeles, that wasn't going to happen. Rosane…
▶ 25:31
to a cocaine-related charge as part of a cooperation agreement and maybe even do a little time. Until then, the agents were told their case was officially on the inactive list. So just in case you're keeping track, they've not only decided …
▶ 26:01
It now appears that there was no such cooperation agreement between Menendez and the Justice Department. It was all a lie. That it was an invention to placate the FBI agents after their racketeering case was rejected. The Justice Department…
▶ 26:30
Both denied that it ever existed. If no deal existed, then it means the real reason for not indicting Menendez in January of 1987 was something else entirely. More likely, it was the fear of political blowback from an indictment in the midd…
▶ 26:57
was asking if Menendez's indictment would cause national security problems for other agencies shows just how wise the agency was to the potential ramifications of the case. They knew all along. And given that what else was going on in Washi…
▶ 28:25
It was once again up to the Riverside agents, Auckland and Shretner, though their investigation had been burned, undermined, compromised, and backstabbed at every step. They still thought they had a few options. For instance, they had Menen…
▶ 28:51
If he was supposed to be working for the DEA, they wanted him back on the job. In March 1987, Tom Shretner called DEA agent Gonzalez in Costa Rica and told him to send Roberto back to California to infiltrate the Blanton organization again.…
▶ 29:14
Roberto wouldn't come to California without Menendez, and Menendez wouldn't come back as long as the FBI was looking for him. Gonzalez told Schretner that he was so exasperated with Menendez, he had already gotten rid of him as an informant…
▶ 32:38
But no one bothered. We found no FBI records indicating that the Miami FBI office conducted any further investigation into Blanton, the Justice Department IG said. But once the case was officially shelved, Norrin Menendez miraculously reapp…
▶ 46:35
And I wasn't necessarily going to leave it. In other words, despite the fact that the LAPD, L.A. Sheriff's Department, FBI, DEA, CIA, DIA, and IRS was now fully aware of Blanton's cocaine reign, the only thing that changed was the man at th…
▶ 39:13
But who was the grand jury investigating? Every time the testimony led in that direction, words, mostly names, were blacked out. Who's the family they keep asking about? Raphael says it's Menendez. Norwin Menendez and his nephews. Have you …
▶ 52:25
That was worth giving Blanton and his crew an easy ride. O'Neill claimed he had given information about a murder in the Bay Area. But from what I could see from the DEA and FBI interviews, he merely told the government that the man had been…
▶ 52:53
And again, my tipster's description proved accurate, perhaps even understated. I found a 1991 story from the San Francisco Chronicle and a 1986 San Francisco Examiner piece that strongly suggested Menendez, too, had been dealing in cocaine …
▶ 55:42
Blanton's testimony about selling cocaine to the Contras in LA wasn't part of a fantasy. This could have actually happened. I called Jack Bloom, the Washington DC attorney who headed the Kerry investigation, and he confirmed that Norwin Men…
▶ 59:20
Why in the world would you want to go back into this? I told him about my discoveries of Menendez and Blanton and the later's cocaine cells in Los Angeles. I wondered if he or anyone had ever reported this. Not that I'm aware of, Perry said…
▶ 1:02:35
I also obtained the 1987 FBI interview with the San Francisco Contra supporter Dennis Ainsworth. We've come across his name a couple of times, in which he told of his discovery that Norwin Menendez and a Contra leader by the name of Enrique…
▶ 1:03:32
I had friends in Central America who were killed. There was a Mexican reporter who was looking into one end of this and he wound up dead. So don't pretend that you know. If the Contras were selling drugs in L.A., don't you think people shou…
▶ 1:04:58
to have the DEA and FBI release the uncensored files, and the U.S. attorney decided to drop him as a witness rather than do that. Can you believe that? He's the one witness they used to get the indictment against Raphael, and now they're re…
▶ 1:05:25
The girlfriend said she thought he was in jail in Nicaragua. In the Chronicle clip I found noted that he'd been arrested in 91. Maybe, I hope, the Nicaraguans locked their drug lords up longer than we did. I was put in touch with a freelanc…
▶ 1:05
Contra supporters, goes by the initials USACA, had a president that we talked about named Don Sineco. And he said that he had never expected Menendez was involved in any criminal activities. But he did confirm that Dennis Ainsworth had bega…
▶ 2:33
Ainsworth warned them that the FDN, quote, has become more involved in selling arms and cocaine for personal gain than in a military effort to overthrow the current Nicaraguan Sandinista government, unquote. He told the agents about Menende…
▶ 5:08
I thought I was part of the establishment, and all of a sudden, I was a leper. Ainsworth fled California to the East Coast, where he went into hiding. Meanwhile, the narcotics investigation had begun with the arrest of Renaldo Pena and Herr…
▶ 5:38
The case federal prosecutors had assembled against the drug kingpin's nephew was a slam dunk. They'd found cocaine in his apartment. His co-defendant had cut a deal and prepared to testify for the government. If convicted of the charges aga…
▶ 6:07
His decision to plead guilty and rat out Uncle Norwin could hardly be considered a surprise. Like Pena, Herrera-Menezes was debriefed by the DEA and he too implicated the Contras in Norwin's drug sales, confirming that his uncle had direct …
▶ 6:37
in court was limited to bookkeeping work he had done for Norwin in San Francisco. He never breathed a word in public about the Contras. Were these men telling the truth? If one looks at the outcome of their criminal cases, the inescapable c…
▶ 7:07
dope dealers to ingratiate themselves with Ed Meese and his hypersensitive Justice Department. But despite being caught red-handed with pounds of cocaine, they were neither sent to jail nor deported. They got probation and a work furlough j…
▶ 7:36
In an interview with a Costa Rican paper in 1986, Menendez scoffed at his nephew's testimony. He said that his nephew had made it up. Norwin declared, because he refused to bail the boy out after he had gotten arrested, and this is a quote,…
▶ 8:02
I would have been interested in taking him out of jail because he would have had me by the tail, Menendez said. Isn't that logical? That Herrero's bail had been paid by Danielle Blanton's sister, Laisla Balderas, who had bailed out Pena, he…
▶ 8:34
hid anywhere. There's never been a warrant out for my arrest. I have not changed passports. That I directed a drug trafficking organization is totally false, unquote. But of course he did, and he didn't have to worry about getting arrested,…
▶ 9:07
Many dopers have gone to jail on much less evidence. At a minimum, the government could have deported him as an undesirable alien and banned him from ever coming back in the United States. He was, after all, living in the United States as a…
▶ 9:33
Dealing cocaine, sending supplies to Contras, and his relationship with the U.S. government had never been closer. The potential exposure of Norwin Menendez couldn't have come at a more inopportune time for the Contras and the CIA. During t…
▶ 13:36
Reagan had gone so far during a speech as to compare them to the founding fathers of the American Revolution. They're terrorists. The FDN's only ray of hope was to withdraw from battle and lay low until spring, when Congress agreed to let t…
▶ 14:07
After all the meetings that he had been in with FDN Director Adolfo Calero, Enrique Bermudez, Edgar Chamorro, and Frank Arena, the resultant scandal would likely have wiped out what little Contra support was left in Washington. It would hav…
▶ 14:38
and the assassination manual. Even if nothing could have been proven conclusively about the CIA's involvement in a drug ring and weapons trafficking, the agency was supposed to be the nation's premier intelligence gathering apparatus, and i…
▶ 15:08
would have looked as proof of complicity. And that was assuming Menendez kept his mouth shut. If he stated names, dates, places, the scandal could have spread to the CIA itself, as it would 11 years later. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Edr…
▶ 15:34
who was familiar with the investigation into Menendez and the drug lord's activities with the Contras, said that they were very well known inside the Justice Department because he had personally reported on it. And justice wasn't the only a…
▶ 16:02
The CIA knows a lot of these crooks. I mean, the CIA knows. As it turned out, Swenson was right. A 1998 CIA inspector general report confirmed that as early as 1984, the agency had information tying Menendez to a drug and arms network in Co…
▶ 16:29
specifically a guy by the name of Sebastian Gonzalez. Against that backdrop, and given the cozy relationship that existed between the CIA and San Francisco's U.S. attorney, Joseph Rosonello, it is hardly surprising that Norwin Menendez was …
▶ 16:55
even though one of his top lieutenants had pleaded guilty to cocaine charges and publicly implicated him as a major trafficker. Allowing Menendez to take the witness stand was out of the question. The drug lord knew simply too much. The FDN…
▶ 30:05
They also found a handwritten note bearing the names of several CIA operatives working with Edan Pastora's Contras in Costa Rica. The document seized from Lister in 1986 largely corroborated his account of his relationship with Blanton and …
▶ 30:35
outside of Managua for five years, but he had none of the fluorescent tube look of someone who had spent all that time in prison. He was tanned. He was well-rested. According to, let's see, one of the prisons that had, it was a prison that …
▶ 31:10
And Menendez strolled freely through the grounds. The guards looked respectfully at their shoes when he walked by. His cell door was closed only when he wanted it closed. So just getting there was a reporter that went down there to intervie…
▶ 31:43
He said that it was protocol driven, arranging from an audience with the head jailer. And then you had to go through all kinds of screening processes that Menendez created, not the jailers. And it said none of it had to do with security con…
▶ 32:12
Norwin's wives, like plural, had to approve. The attorneys needed to approve. And then, so the widow or the wives had to approve somebody visiting him. The wives' attorneys had to approve it. And then his personal attorneys, three of them, …
▶ 32:44
The reporter was told, I'll be right up front with you, the DEA public affairs said, after reviewing Menendez's intelligence file in Washington, D.C. I've already talked to the CIA people because obviously there are some implications and so…
▶ 33:36
I think I could probably represent to you that we might be able to facilitate any meeting you have with Menendez. I can represent that I can go out and try to facilitate an interview and that he ends up saying, who knows, I'm willing to let…
▶ 34:05
Like Blanton's relationship with the DEA, the reporters arranged the interview themselves. Even after they had jumped through all of the hoops, Menendez gave nothing away for free. Every suggestion of criminal conduct that was alleged, he w…
▶ 34:33
And then he would just smile and say, yeah, I did that. As the minutes stretched into hours, Menendez became relaxed and expansive, but he never let his guard down. Every so often, he would tell an obvious lie just to see if they were payin…
▶ 35:00
Or he would casually drop a bombshell, like mentioning Ronald Lister's name, to see how it resonated, doing his own sounding to test to know how much the journalists actually knew. He laughed heartily only once during the afternoon when he …
▶ 35:28
for a variety of police agencies. In May of 1992, the FBI, DEA, IRS, and the Los Angeles Police Department sat the Torreses down in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles and grilled them about Menendez and Danielle O'Blanton. Menendez w…
▶ 36:00
He would not occasionally look angry sometimes. Holding the document open to the second page, he pointed to the second paragraph where it says, Torres estimated that between 1980 and 91, Blanton moved over 5,000 kilos of cocaine. It would b…
▶ 36:30
50,000 kilos? 55 tons of cocaine? He said, easily. Menendez's figures are impossible to verify, but he was Blanton's supplier for many years. No one is in a better position to know. The DEA estimated Blanton imported between 18,000 and 27,0…
▶ 38:25
in the United States in less than four years is no small testament to Blanton's sales and marketing skills. Actually, it had more to do with the need and Ricky Ross than Blanton. After the arrest of his nephew, Herrero and Rinalto Pina, in …
▶ 38:54
and his office building and moving his base of operations to Costa Rica. I went to Costa Rica to see him right after he moved, and I spent about six months on his ranch down there, John Lacombe said, who was a Bay Area friend. He would take…
▶ 39:26
Like Somoza, Blanton, and other wealthy Nicaraguans, Menendez had a home there since the Sandinista takeover. Menendez owned not one house, but several, and large ranches in northern Costa Rica near the war zone because the CIA was using th…
▶ 40:29
of none other than Robert Vesco, who we've talked about many times. That was a scheme to nationalize the gasoline distributorships in Costa Rica. Who Norwin Menendez was and what he did for a living was no mystery to Costa Rican police offi…
▶ 41:02
when a confidential informant was debriefed at the U.S. Embassy in San Jose and reported that Menendez was in charge of a major trafficking ring. Six months later, DEA learned that a small cocaine shipment destined for Menendez had been sei…
▶ 41:31
Nicaraguan population that was currently in Costa Rica. A 1985 report stated he was one of the first economic supports for the Contras in Costa Rica. There are rumors that he works as an informant for DEA. It was more than a rumor. It was t…
▶ 41:57
and the DEA may have been the only U.S. government agency in Costa Rica to have availed itself to the drug kingpin services. To hear the DEA tell it, Menendez simply walked into the U.S. embassy in Costa Rica one day, unsolicited, and annou…
▶ 42:27
to faithfully record the official reasons behind his life-altering decision. His desire to clear up a minor problem he had with the IRS, his decision to terminate his involvement in drug trafficking, his desire to help the present administr…
▶ 43:26
The CIA's Contra station chief was Joseph Fernandez. He was so heavily involved in the illegal Contra operations that he would be fired and indicted eventually for his participation. But there were other reasons to doubt Agent Gonzalez's st…
▶ 43:56
because he was working with the entire government to include the CIA. In an interview, Menendez said that he had helped DEA gather intelligence on the February 1985 torture murder of DEA agent Enrique Amarino in Mexico.…
▶ 44:17
whose demise at the hands of Mexican traffickers made him a hero to narcotic agents. Menendez claims he provided information that helped U.S. authorities capture one of the Mexican drug lords involved, Rafael Quintero, at a mansion outside …
▶ 44:46
Menendez said that he also met with the DEA Costa Rican attache Robert Neves, N-I-E-V-E-S, in late 1985, again concerning the Camarena case. Menendez delivered Neves as desperate for information Norwin supposedly had on the crime, but he wo…
▶ 1:25:59
I think 1,000 kilo shipments were not unheard of that scale because all of a sudden they seem to have unlimited sources of supply. According to former Menendez aide Enrique Miranda, Menendez drug-laden airplanes were flying out of military …
▶ 45:46
The official alarm was easily understood. Not only was someone like Carlos Armador strolling freely in and out of CIA-run hangars, but there was a host of other contra-traffickers milling around, including none other than Norwin Menendez, E…
▶ 46:14
to the cartels of Colombia in the late 1980s, testified in 1992 that during the Nicaraguan trial, which we'll talk about later, that Norwin was selling drugs and funneling the benefits to the Contras with help from high-ranking military off…
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and money, according to a DEA report. Southern Air, of course, was owned by the CIA. Miranda testified that he met CIA pilot Aguardo for dinner at Menendez's mansion in Managua in 1991, where Aguardo regaled them with tales of flying for th…
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from the Salvadoran military to the Colombian cartel. A story Miranda said he doubted until a Salvadoran Air Force colonel and his associates were arrested in 1992 for selling bombs and explosives to the Colombian drug cartels. Miranda said…
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stockpiled at ilapango was loaded onto salvadoran transport planes and flown south where the guns were traded for cocaine which was then flown back to the salvadoran airbase as wild as it sounds records show miranda is not the first drug tr…
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basically saying the exact same thing. They never did anything about it. One of the informants records show was a member of Menendez's drug ring, a boyhood friend who had a long track record of providing information and was considered extre…
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The friend was questioned in April 1986 by a DEA intelligence analyst as part of a secret DEA assessment of allegations that the Contras were involved in drug smuggling. He not only confirmed that Menendez was selling cocaine to raise money…
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In March of 1985, the CIA reported that Vaughn was said to be an associate of Nicaraguan narcotics trafficker Norwin Menendez. Menendez, at the time, was working with the DEA in Costa Rica, assisting the Contras and Oliver North on the whol…
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We're going to get into that. No matter how much information they had, they would not charge Danielle and they would not charge Norwin Menendez, even though they knew those were the two top dogs dealing directly with Columbia. And so you ha…
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BEF, the top DEA official in the country where the drug flights were originating. If, as Menendez's aide Miranda claims, the Ilopango operation was part of Menendez's drug pipeline into the United States, Castillo's probe might have raised …
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who were close relatives of the Medellin cartel boss, Pablo Escobar. In his 1996 interview, Norwin Menendez confirmed the relationship between the women and Escobar. Guzeta said Torreses were informed that no charges would be filed against …
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They won't do it. They didn't want to respond. They didn't want to provide any information. But some information trickled out anyway, and it got awfully close to exposing the Norwin Menendez-Daniello Blanton drug operation. In the spring of…
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Rodriguez, who said he was beaten, paralyzed and left for dead because he he had denounced contra involvement in drug dealing. He specifically identified Norwin Menendez's partner, Trujillo Sanchez, as being involved and said Sanchez had be…
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had another major front page story in the Examiner, exposing Norwin Menendez's cocaine trafficking network and his involvement with the Contras in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Rosenfeld reported on Menendez's meeting with CIA agents Enriq…
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He reported that the Contra spokesperson in San Francisco had been convicted of cocaine charges. He disclosed Menendez's donations and Contra fundraisers. The Menendez's story was considerably more damaging to the Contras than the Frogman s…
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Though the examiner's expose appeared just two days before the House of Representatives was scheduled to take up the highly controversial issue of $100 million of our money to the Contras, not a single major newspaper published this story. …
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He asked the Justice Department to turn over its files on Menendez and the long-closed Brogman case. He ran into a buzzsaw. He said, quote, we had a terrible, terrible time getting information about Menendez from the fellow who was the U.S.…
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He had some addresses in Glendale, which showed up in connection with the Torres brothers. A couple of file references from 1983 and 1984 described him as the head of a cocaine distribution organization in Los Angeles. He had only two known…